College Heights in district championship as first-time hosts

Feb. 24—The College Heights Christian School girls basketball team had never hosted a district championship before this year.

Now, at 6 p.m. Saturday, it will be playing host to Pierce City for the Class 2 District 12 title game.

"We're excited about the opportunity to do that," CHC head coach John Blankenship said. "Hopefully we can have a good fan base there, get some energy in the building and win a district championship.

"Pierce City always brings a big crowd so hopefully we can have one to match it."

This marks the fifth straight championship appearance for the Cougars (16-11) as they look to claim their second crown during that stretch. The last time they won the championship would have been when junior Maddy Colin's older sister, Emmy, was still on the team during the 2019-20 season.

"We are, obviously, grateful to be back in a district championship," Blankenship said. "It's always a goal you set at the beginning of a season so it's exciting for us to get back there again.

"We've been blessed over the last few years to have several good athletes at the same time. Which obviously makes a coach's job a whole lot easier."

Pierce City (15-13) comes into the contest being led by first-year head coach Ragan Blinzler. The program hasn't reached a district final since 2018 — Blinzler's senior year with the Eagles.

"If you're from Pierce City, you know how big PC pride is and to be able to reestablish that in our high school girls program alongside my assistant coaches has been an honor and a privilege," Blinzler said.

These two teams met earlier this season, on Dec. 19 at the College Heights Athletic Complex. That game saw the Cougars come out on top 50-46 in a tightly contested battle from start to finish.

"We've watched a lot of game film together as a team and broken down things from our own play to our opponents' play," Blankenship said. "They've seen Pierce City a little bit."

Blankenship added that he believes if his guards can knock down some outside shots — something he's seen a rise in lately — that they will have success, and that will open the door for Libby Fanning to have success on the interior as well.

As for Blinzler's bunch:

"Last Thursday we only had five players score so we had a conversation about being a threat and sometimes the scariest thing that a basketball player can be is unafraid," Blinzler said. "Unafraid to shoot and confident in their abilities. Some of our girls have stepped up in those aspects and are trusting each other in the right point of the season, too."

She noted that games at the end of the team's regular season were against tough, physical teams that also helped her squad prepare for the district tournament.

A key for her team is just not letting the moment be too big for them.

"Being able to relax in tight situations and step up when the moment arises," Blinzler said.

Coach Blankenship wants to see his team cover all areas of the floor, knowing that Pierce City can score from multiple levels.

"We will have to figure out how to contain their perimeter shooters but also closely defend their post players inside," Blankenship said.

College Heights comes in averaging 50 points per game as a team and is led individually by Fanning's double-double average of 16 ppg and 12.3 rebounds a night. The sophomore has recorded 20 double-doubles in 27 contests this year.

Jayli Johnson fills the stat sheet with 8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.6 steals and 4 assists per game. Colin is sitting at 7 ppg and 6 rpg right now.

Pierce City scores 51.6 ppg currently and has been paced by seniors Olivia Stanphill and Madi Tindell. One thing that Blinzler said she admires about her team is having multiple options to go get 10 points or more in a game. Some others who have done that this year are Keishia Delgado, Rylie O'Hara, Macie Crowther and Ayla Renkoski.

These teams have met 16 times since 2009. The Eagles won the first 14 meetings with the Cougars taking the last two. This will be the fifth matchup in the Class 2 District 12 tournament. College Heights won the last tournament meeting in 2019.